Why informal groups emerge and how a manager should handle them

Informal groups

An informal group is a set of employees bound by personal and social ties rather than by the organisation chart. Taken together, these groups make up the informal organisation, a network of social relationships among employees that arises from their interaction at work. Management does not plan them; they grow over time and influence their members' behaviour a great deal.

What causes informal groups to emerge

1. Interaction beyond official roles. Informal groups take shape inside the formal organisation when people deal with one another beyond the roles officially set for them. People in frequent contact cannot be held inside a rigid formal structure.
2. Likes, dislikes and shared sentiments. As people interact, they come to like some colleagues and dislike others, and find themselves in groups that express shared sentiments or values.
3. Friendship and common interests. Groups form round friendship and a common interest, such as colleagues who play cricket together on Sundays, meet for coffee in the cafeteria or share an interest in dramatics.
4. Gaps in the formal organisation. Where organisation practices are poor, creative talent may go without due recognition, because rigid policies leave no room for departing from them; and a structure that stresses work and positions cannot capture all the human relationships in an enterprise; the informal organisation helps the organisation reach its objectives by making up for such shortcomings.
5. The need to exchange views. Employees want to share views that cannot travel through formal channels, which is how the grapevine arises.

Membership also meets social needs: members find like-minded people, and the sense of belonging adds to their job satisfaction.

How a manager should handle informal groups

• Recognise them. Informal groups cannot be eliminated, so the manager should accept that they exist and identify the roles their members play.
• Work with them, not against them. Rather than suppressing the groups, the manager should try to use them for the organisation's objectives; knowing the groups helps win their support, and the manager should draw on both the formal and the informal organisation so that work goes on smoothly.
• Use their channels. The informal network spreads information fast and gives quick feedback, so employees' reactions to a plan can be tested through it; managers can also pass on information through it to learn how subordinates react.
• Check rumours. A group that spreads rumours becomes a destructive force, so the manager should study what the grapevine carries and act to reduce its adverse effects, making use of its positive side.
• Watch group norms and resistance. A group may press members to follow norms that run against the organisation's interests, and a change it opposes may fail; the manager should therefore use his knowledge of the group to gather its support for the change.

At a Surat diamond-cutting unit, for instance, a manager who hears through the lunch-time group that workers fear a new quality check will cut their piece rates can explain the scheme to that group first, and so turn a likely source of resistance into support.

Conclusion

Informal groups grow naturally out of daily contact, friendship and shared feelings at work. A manager cannot abolish them, but by recognising them, using their channels and keeping their norms in line with the organisation's goals, he can make them an ally of the formal organisation.